Most sophisticated in the segment

By David Booth, Postmedia News

Originally published: June 23, 2011

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Las Vegas • Although Hyundai seldom gets mentioned during discussions of the world’s most successful automobile companies, the automaker’s growth in recent years has been startling. If you were looking at it from the perspective of its Japanese competitors, Hyundai’s inexorable rise from the depths of the Pony debacle is starting to look like a rout. While competitors have been defending their positions — much like the Vancouver Canucks protecting what they thought was an insurmountable lead, Hyundai keeps surging forward like Boston’s superior players who simply don’t believe they can lose.

Indeed, the South Korean company is following the trail that the Japanese giants blazed before it, inexorably pecking at the hegemony that first the domestics and then the Japanese brands used to take for granted. In Canada, for instance, Hyundai is the fifth-fastest-selling automaker, outpacing both Toyota and Honda during May of this year. Perhaps more impressive is that Hyundai is Number One in Canadian passenger car sales — which is to say anything not truck- or SUV-like. Yes, the company once the butt of Pony jokes now sells more cars than anyone else in the Great White North.

It’s a trend that shows no sign of abating. Hot on the heels of the new Sonata (including the excellent hybrid version) and the even more recent Elantra (creating a stir in the United States, being the only compact car promising 40 miles per U.S. gallon from all its trim levels) comes the Accent subcompact, the heart and soul of Hyundai’s value-packed lineup.

Much has changed, however, for both the Accent and Hyundai. CEO Steve Kelleher notes that “Hyundai no longer succeeds on price alone,” relying instead on value for the money by packing more into a subcompact than ever before. More as in more power — 138 ponies. More technology — it’s the first subcompact with direct fuel injection. More room — the 2012 Accent’s interior boasts more volume than the previous-generation Honda Civic. More features — it’s the only subcompact offering a six-speed automatic. It’s all wrapped up in a $13,199 price tag, which Hyundai Canada says is $1,100 less than the entry-level 2011 model, even if the Accent is no longer the cheapest car in its class (or anywhere close to the sub-$10,000 Accent that made such waves through the auto industry a few short years ago).

It may be the most powerful, however, with its 138-horsepower engine completely trumping the 106 hp of a 2011 Toyota Yaris (Hyundai boasts the Accent is even more powerful than Toyota’s larger Corolla) and even Ford’s recently unveiled Fiesta (120 hp). Nor does this aforementioned power come at the price of fuel consumption. The Accent boasts a segment-best 4.8 litres per 100 kilometres highway fuel economy, while such underpowered stalwarts as the Mazda2 (98 hp) only manage 5.6 L/100 km.

It’s all because of the massive dose (relatively speaking) of technology with which the 2012 Accent has been blessed. Both transmissions — manual and automatic — boast six forward gears (the Mazda2, Chevrolet Aveo and Toyota Yaris can only claim four from their automatics), dramatically helping fuel economy. So does Hyundai’s GDI direct injection, which sees fuel pumped directly into the combustion chambers rather than dumped into the intake manifold. Hyundai says these and other engineering improvements — alternator management system, electric steering, etc. — are good for a significant 14% fuel economy improvement.

The 1.6-litre four-banger is also commendably smooth. Credit better engine mounting damping and superior sound insulation, but the Accent’s double overhead camshaft four is far less thrashy than anything else in the subcompact segment and even feels more sophisticated than its larger Elantra sibling.

However, it is not quite the perfect engine. Despite its impressive specifications — 123 pound-feet of class-leading torque — the engine feels noticeably weak at low rpm. That peak torque arrives at a relatively heady 4,850 rpm; below 3,500 rpm, there is just not much pulling power. So, yes, the new Accent is probably the sportiest of the current crop of subcompacts, but you’ll have to seriously row the manual gearbox to access the performance. Better to opt for the $1,200 automatic and let the six close-ratio gears do the shifting instead.

The Accent is surprisingly sporty on the open road. Though the steering is fuel-saving electric, it doesn’t feel as numb as in the Elantra. The suspension, despite featuring a solid-axle torsion beam design in the back, is well damped, keeping roll to a minimum. All in all, this car is a far cry from small Hyundais of the past, which were often crude and not even remotely sporty affairs.

If that sporty attitude is important to you, I’d suggest the five-door hatch version. Unlike the Elantra, the Accent sedan’s styling is somewhat somnolent, as if Hyundai’s designers weren’t feeling quite as confident about where the various slashes and fender bulges should go. The hatch, however, looks very European. Ditto the inside, which looks for all the world like it escaped from a Fiat or Citroën. Even if that’s a slight exaggeration, the interior — dashboard, centre stack and gauges — are all stylish. Material quality and especially panel gaps are superb. The car is even roomy, just squeezing into the U.S Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) sizing guideline for compacts rather than the subcompact segment Hyundai is targeting.

More than any car — save, perhaps, the luxury-segment Genesis — the Accent epitomizes Hyundai’s inexorable march upward and upscale. What just a short time ago was sold on price alone has morphed into the most sophisticated automobile in the segment. Hyundai’s product development has become a juggernaut that seems unstoppable.